CESC distribution franchisee revenue to touch Rs 1600-1700cr

Power utility CESC Ltd's distribution franchisee business, excluding Kolkata licensee area, is set to touch revenues of Rs 1,600-1,700 crore after it bagged the Malegaon distribution circle of Maharashtra, a top official of the company said Monday.

CESC has power distribution franchisee business in Kota, Bharatpur and Bikaner in Rajasthan besides being the license holder of Greater Noida and Kolkata circle.

"It (revenues) will be around Rs 1,600-1,700 crore including new Malegaon circle," CESC Chairman Sanjiv Goenka said when asked about the combined revenue of distribution business except Kolkata circle of CESC.

CESC Kolkata Circle involves Kolkata and part of Howrah district which has a revenue of Rs 7,000 crore.

For the power utility, Malegaon is the fifth power distribution franchisee after Greater Noida, Kota, Bharatapur, Bikaner and Kolkata.

CESC company officials said Bharatapur has turned profitable.

Speaking about Malegoan Distribution franchisee Circle, Goenka said that in the previous fiscal, the revenue was Rs 322 crore with total 1 lakh consumers. Presently, 83 per cent of the consumers are industrial and 13 per cent domestic. The transmission and distribution (T&D) loss currently stands at 44.76 per cent.

"We will buy power at Rs 3.26 per unit from Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited. The final tariff is yet to be approved," Goenka said.

CESC has 600 MW independent power plant in Chandrapur in Maharashtra which has 270MW long-term power purchase agreement and short-term agreement for another 170MW with Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd.